The Shadow Tunnel
by Beacker1160
Summary: RowanTheTurtle is a player who lives in the town of Kingsville, leading an ordinary minecraft life: mining, crafting, and socializing with his two friends, Onionboy and Lyra. However, this all changes when the ruler of Kingsville asks the three of them to go on an expedition to find the location of Winterhold, a town that was thought to be abandoned years ago. Will they survive?
1. Prologue

_**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Welcome, Minecraft players and fanfiction readers. This is my first submission for this site, and I wrote it specifically to be the first. The Shadow Tunnel's concept is, hopefully, quite original, and Ihope you will enjoy it. I apologize for the often insubstantial or 'chunky' text of the first few chapters. Please keep in mind that this is a project that is often worked off and on for months, so it may be slightly inconsistent between different chapters (which may be written weeks and weeks apart). I may not remember everything correctly, but I will try my best.**_

_**Be sure to leave a comment or review, I gladly appreciate them and it keeps my writing spirit up. I'd love to hear what you like or don't like. Though I'd appreciate if you'd mince your words, I wouldn't mind if you gave me a honest (and somewhat scathing) critique. As usual, no flaming or insulting other reviewers, please. We all have different ways of seeing things, and we should respect that.**_

**_Anyways, enjoy. - Beacker1160_**

* * *

_The night was cold and still. A chilly wind blew amongst the snowy, alpine heights, and the full moon cast a bright glow on the silent stone brick walls of a massive fortress. Beyond the walls, the twinkling torches of a mountain town were visible, their warm glow competing with the square moon and the distant stars._

_Though all seemed peaceful, the two shadowy figures who stood like statues on one of the stone towers of the fortress wall knew better. They knew that any second now, it would happen, like it had for many months. They both carried enchanted bows and a stack of arrows each, lone sentries stationed at their post._

_Suddenly, without warning, the moans of hordes of zombies were heard, and the clinking of dozens of skeletons filled the air. Spiders, with their eerie slurping noises and clacking insect legs, reached the fortress before the other mobs. They tried to scale the walls, but the overhangs made it impossible for them to. But soon, the creepers would silently come to their aid, bombarding the wall with explosions and booms heard miles away._

_The two archers snapped to life and started to fire volley after volley of arrows. Many a mob went down, an expertly aimed arrow to their joints, or heads, or some other vulnerable part of their rotten bodies. All around the stone fortress, other archers on similar platforms could be seen doing the same. The air was filled with the sounds of dying mobs and soft whooshes as the bows launched their deadly projectiles at their doomed targets._

_Soon, though, the mobs broke through to the fort walls. Rather than panicking, the two archers were completely calm, their shadowed faces underneath their black cowls showing no emotion. They continued to pick off zombies and skeletons, unaffected by the slurping spiders only a few blocks under them. The creepers, no matter how much they tried, could not blow the walls apart, for a strong layer of obsidian lay underneath the stone bricks. Groups of swordsmen and knights swept among the undead armies, laying waste to many zombies. It seemed as if the Minecraftians were winning._

_Suddenly, there were the sounds of many dozens of endermen teleporting. The archers were genuinely worried, now. Their arrows could do no damage to these tall, dark creatures of another land. In fact, their job was over. Now, all around the fort, the many arches ceased to fire and instead dived for cover in their two-block high endershelters, where they would wait out the rest of the battle, safe from the endermen assault._

_The knights did not fare well without the support of the arrows, striking down many of their opponents. In an organized fashion, they begin to retreat to the walls. The endermen would, indeed, attack them, but they didn't care. Instead, with worried looks on their faces, they left the walls unattended and ran towards the village. They knew what would happen there. The unarmed Minecraftian citizens, with no way to defend themselves, would be massacred by endermen if they didn't get there in time._

_Fortunately, though, they dispersed through the village and fought off the brunt of the endermen. Many a swordsman fell, his iron blade flung to the ground as he died at the hands of an enderman, but many more of the midnight black, purple-eyed mobs met their end as well. Soon, the surviving ones sensed the deaths of their brethren, too many to continue the assault, and teleported away from the fort. Again, the Minecraftians had defended their town. Again, they had avoided death and destruction. But it was no triumph, for they had been doing so for more nights then they could remember._

_Believing the fight over, the archers cautiously crawled out of their shelters, scanning the ground outside of the fort alertly for any hiding mobs that would need to be picked off. The knights, too, lay down their swords, relieved that they had survived another night. Some mourned their fallen comrades, victims of yet another attack by the mobs. Others removed their helmets, revealing messy, disheveled hair, brows slick with sweat, and tired faces._

_But the head knight, who had an impressive history of battle and victories and who was a veteran at combat, sensed that something was off. Something about this particular night didn't feel right. There had to be something more, something horrible, sent by whoever made all those crazed mobs attack the town over and over, every midnight. He felt that this night had been a bit too easy. There had to be something else._

_Though he wanted to call off the knights and let them get their precious sleep, to prepare for the next day, his instincts told him to keep them on guard. The archers, too, would continue their duties. It was always better to be safe than to be sorry. If he could deprive his fighting men of a few hours of sleep in order to save the town from some unspeakable horror that would creep up on them when they had all gone to bed, then he would do that. And so the head knight hefted his diamond armor and sword, instructed his aide to tell all of his knights and archers to remain alert, and began his patrol of the walls, ready to respond to whatever would happen._

_It came some time later. A moan so deep the dirt blocks rumbled was heard, and some of the archers started yelling to each other in disbelief. The head knight looked up, too, disbelievingly. Did they just say they spotted a giant? Those powerful, massive zombies that had gone extinct many hundreds of years ago? Well, the archers had no reason to lie. And if what they said was true, then the town was in deep trouble._

_It would be lucky to even survive the rampage of such an ancient, horrible monster._

* * *

My name is RowanTheTurtle, but nobody calls me that. They all refer to me as 'Rowan'. I live in a town called Kingsville, which a nice, pleasant place, with fifteen or so players, situated in the forest, with tall mountains in the distance. I lived in the north-east corner of the town, and my job was to craft things.

Our lives were pretty routine. In the morning, we'd get up and eat some bread, or apples, or meat. We'd get to work with whatever our jobs were. For me, it was making tools and items. This usually meant I would travel down to the blacksmith shop and pick up iron and gold ingots, or occasionally the rare diamond. Then, I would spend the day hammering away at my crafting table, making pickaxes, shovels, axes, and swords of various materials.

But it wasn't always that way.

Occasionally, I would be called upon to make other items. Usually it would be something like a bookshelf or some signs or beds. It was mostly things that some other people didn't know how to make. Other times, it would be huge orders of stairs or stone bricks, or things that were very tedious to produce. Sometimes it would be rare items like golden blocks or enchanting tables. You name it, I could probably make it.  
Even though I was usually in my two-story house crafting things, that didn't mean I was friendless. Sometimes, I would go out with my close friends for a roast chicken or steak and pork chop at a restaurant. Or I would come over to their homes and we would spend the evening sipping milk and discussing things. I also loved to mine, although it was scary and irritating to deal with the mobs that hid in the dark and tried to kill you while you were busy.

My closest friend was a person named xXOnionboy246Xx, or just Onionboy for short. He was a nice fellow who always seemed to be wearing some sort of jacket with a creeper design on it, and he was a guard, which meant he spent his nights patrolling along the wall, dealing with any mobs that managed to climb over or get through. He also loved to mine things, though he often got distracted by dungeons and would spend hours eagerly hacking away at the zombies, skeletons, and spiders that continuously spawned. Otherwise, if we weren't in the mood of swinging our picks at gold ores or running around, swinging our swords at hordes of zombies, we loved to explore the sunny forests around Kingsville, looking for apples or mushrooms to eat.

I also had another friend known as LyraKin6671 (we often just called her Lyra). She was almost the opposite of Onionboy, and hated caves and ravines. She was very good with books and kept a daily diary (which, of course, she never let us read), and her job was to keep records of all of the expenses, debts, trade offers, and money that the town had. Lyra was also very popular, due to her prettiness, but she tended to stay away from parties (which Onionboy couldn't get enough of) and restaurants.

Between my job, Onionboy and Lyra, my life was pretty busy. Occasionally, someone would forget to pay me or give me too much money, so I would have to sprint to their house to notify them. Other times, there might have been a fire at one of the homes, so I would have to help the other players put it out. Sometimes, there would be a town meeting, where we would come together to listen to Noble140 (the ruler of Kingsville) decree new laws or give speeches.

But mostly I lived alone, in my own house, spending my days crafting various objects and having fun with Onionboy and Lyra.  
Anyway, enough with my life. I'm not here to tell you about myself, I'm here to tell the story, the incredible story of what happened to me sometime ago. The story I would never forget for my whole life.

The story of the Shadow Tunnel.


	2. The Enchantment Table

It was one of those slightly strange days.

I received an order from SquirrelFaic99, a chatty player who seemed to have gone a bit nuts (no pun intended). She wanted an enchanting table, which was strange, because she was so afraid of hostile mobs that she never went into caves or fought them. So why should she want one? She couldn't have leveled up that high, anyway.

Still, she was willing to trade me a stack of bread and a cake (she mainly spent her days baking things), so I accepted the deal. Even if she couldn't find any use for it, who was I to turn down some extra, needed food?

I decided to get the materials. Finishing up my breakfast of bread and milk, I put the bucket back into my chest and got out some obsidian Onionboy had given me (he didn't really find much use for it, since he thought it was ugly and he didn't like nether mobs because his bow skills and accuracy was horrible). I needed the diamonds and book, so I made up my mind to visit HugoAlienasdf, the smithy, and Jinxlolol, the player who made paper, books, and written books (she also kept a library of stories).

Emerging onto the cobblestone street, I shut the wooden door behind me. It was a bright and crisp morning, and a small breeze blew. It was extremely comfortable as I set off towards the center of the town, where a large plaza with a fountain was located. There weren't many people, and it wasn't a big distance, so I didn't see anyone along the way as I walked into the circular central part of the village.

The gentle flowing of water could be heard as I strolled along towards the blacksmith's shop, waving at HelenHeather1999 (who, along with her friend Kylespoungepie, brewed potions). HugoAlienasdf was his usual grumpy self, picking mineral ingots out of a chest as I walked to the counter.

"Hmm, so it's RowanTheTurtle. What do you need" he asked me without even looking up from what he was doing. I waited for a second before replying, "I want two diamonds. They don't have to be tool-grade, since I'm making an enchanting table."

"Alright then, here you go," he said gruffly, shoving two shabby-looking diamonds at me. "That'll be 10 gold ingots," he told me, referring to the currency used in Kingsville (we paid for most everything in gold ingots, except for tiny things, which were bought and sold in gold nuggets). Nodding, I looked in my inventory and put ten of the shiny yellow bars on the counter. HugoAlienasdf retrieved them without another word and put them in a special enderchest for safekeeping.

Exiting the stuffy, heated blacksmith shop, I walked across the plaza to the Jinx Palace, which, ironically, was a very small store, owned by Jinxlolol. The inside of the shop seemed to be unnaturally cold, and a chilly breeze was blowing from somewhere, as if it was permanently winter. Jinxlolol stood in the back, looking at one of her chests, which probably contained books. Walking up to her, I waited until she looked up before asking to buy one.  
"No problem," she said in her high-pitched, shrilly sort of voice as she handed me a mysterious leather-bound book. "That's going to be three gold nuggets," she added, and I gave her the amount and exited the store quickly, not wanting to be in that place any longer than I had to.

Now that I had the ingredients to make the enchantment table, I prepared to travel back to my house. Although I wished I could go find Onionboy or Lyra, I decided I didn't have enough time. Besides, one of them (probably Onionboy) would probably see me as I made my way home.

Strolling back down through the cobblestone streets, I paused at an intersection before continuing. Further down the road, I saw EurekanMediterranean, a nerdy sort of fellow who made redstone currents for the city. His house was also probably the second largest, only smaller than the mansion that Noble140 owned.

"Hi," I said to him, and he nodded, his glasses gleaming. "Greetings," he replied, and continued to walk in the opposite direction. My house was not far now. I could see its roof as I turned a corner and walked straight into someone.

"Oww!" a light voice exclaimed, and I realized it was Lyra. She seemed to be in some sort of hurry, and she had been carrying a pile of books in her hands. They now lay around the cobblestone street, and she hastily picked them up. "Sorry," I said, but she merely shook her head. "I've got to hurry," she replied. "See you, Rowan," she called over her shoulder as she sprinted in the opposite direction, towards the town hall.

Reaching my house, I opened the door and walked inside, closing it behind me. My living room was as untidy as I had left it. However, I didn't feel like organizing at the moment, so I ignored the messy tables and chairs and walked up the stairs to my second floor, where my crafting benches sat off to one side of the wall, with a few furnaces and several chests towards the other side. I could see the street through a window at the front of the room, and a hallway at the back led to my small bedroom.

Walking over to the crafting table, I got to work on the enchantment table. It would take nearly the whole day to make it, since it was so complex. I had to get the diamonds and book just right, and the obsidian had to be hammered into the exact shape. I knew that although I would be paid well, it would still take a large chunk out of my time.

Hours later, my stomach rumbled. It was time to have lunch. Sighing, I left the diamonds and book at the table. I had spent the whole morning carving the obsidian, which now looked at least remotely like an enchanting table and not the large, raw pieces that had been in my chest. Sunlight streamed through the glass pane window, and a soft melody played as the day shifted to noontime.

Walking out of my dusty house, I headed for the town plaza, intending to get a piece of steak or maybe some bread and milk at the café near Hugoalienasdf's blacksmith shop. Passing by some houses (one of them being Onionboy's), I continued towards the center of the town.

The plaza was as noisy as usual. Hugoalienasdf had his usual grumpy look as he gently polished some diamonds behind the open-air counter of his store. I could see EurekanMediterranean repairing the redstone current that lit up the street lamps, and Jinxlolol was in her musty book shop, putting some of her old rune books into a chest. I strolled past the massive fountain, the gurgling water flowing from the top, and towards a small restaurant near the road to Noble140's mansion.

Stepping inside, I went over to one of the tables and sat down. Aniseedlist, the owner of the café, smiled at me and asked me what I wanted. I told her I was ordering a steak and some bread and milk. Paying her 3 gold nuggets, I went back to staring out at the fountain.

By the time she had come back and given me my food, the sun had moved a little. Jinxlolol was taking a stroll around the plaza, while Hugoalienasdf had went off to do something. EurekanMediterranean was still fixing the street lamps, and linkueiraism, a snobby, aristocratic sort of fellow, was striding across the plaza to the town hall. Nobody really liked him, but then again, he was the town assistant (sort of like a co-mayor), and nobody dared to defy him.

As I finished my steak and was about to leave, someone entered aniseedlist's cafe. I only had to glimpse the white hoodie with a electric-blue creeper design to realize it was Onionboy. Spotting me, he smiled and sat down across from my table. We conversed for a while before he seemed to remember something.  
"Hey Rowan, they're hosting a town meeting at the town hall tomorrow. I think we're all supposed to go. Make sure you don't miss it, because if you do, linkueiraism is going to find some sort of excuse to humiliate you." Standing up, he ate his food and prepared to leave, saying, "Sorry, but I gotta go. There's some sort of damage in the wall at the western area, so I have to stand around and guard the place while the builders fix the hole in the cobblestone." Nodding, I watched him leave, and then stood up, preparing to go back to my house.

It was late evening by the time I finished with the enchanting table. Stepping back to admire my work, I smiled as I took some melon slices out of my chest and ate them to celebrate my accomplishment. The enchanting table had four diamonds at the edges, with a square, obsidian body and a red felt covering. But the strangest part was a spinning book that was floating on top of the obsidian, absorbing what looked like strange characters from a bookshelf nearby. Lifting it off the table, I put it into my inventory and went downstairs and out of my house, delivering it to SquirrelFaic99.

It was almost dusk as I stepped out onto the cobblestone street, closing the wooden door behind me. I started to walk towards the other end of town, where SquirrelFaic99 lived, passing several houses along the way. Between the gaps, I could see the cobblestone wall, and beyond that, the darkening forest.  
The town plaza was deserted save for Jinxlolol, who was humming as she walked around the edge of the fountain, and Hugoalienasdf, who was still sporting his grumpy look as he polished the counter of his blacksmith store. Aniseedlist's café seemed empty, but I could see her inside as she cleaned the tables and prepared the next day's food. I waved at EurekanMediterranean, who was putting the final touch on the last street lamp, before walking past the café and onto the southern area of Kingsville.

SquirrelFaic99 lived above her store, which was known as the Nutbread Bakery. Entering the building, I was overcome by a pleasant smell of baking bread and sweet cakes. SquirrelFaic99 was nowhere to be found, but I saw her nameplate moving around on the 2nd floor, and I guessed that she was baking something. She seemed to sense that I had entered, and she came downstairs, holding some sort of large, cherry-topped cake. Setting it aside on a nearby table, she turned to face me, and I looked in my inventory for the enchanting table.

"Here's your enchanting table," I told her, giving her what had taken me the whole day to make. Nodding, she thanked me, and I received a stack of bread, along with the large cherry cake, as she had promised. I also picked up some little honey cakes, which I paid two gold ingots for, and left her shop. The stars had begun to show, and I could see the squarish moon rising up from the horizon, while the sky turned a fiery shade of orange as the sun set. Setting off at a sprint, I was determined to make my way back to my house before night fell. I didn't have a sword on me, and I would be defenseless against any mobs that were able to get past the cobblestone wall.

The plaza's street lamps turned on as I ran past. Hugoalienasdf had closed down his store, while Jinxlolol was locking her door. Aniseedlist's café was dark and deserted, and she was probably at her house, which was not far from mine's.

Suddenly, I heard a slurping noise, and I saw a spider, its eight hairy, black legs carrying it towards me, and its multiple, ruby-red eyes reflecting the moonlight. I sprinted even harder, running towards the edge of the plaza. However, as I was about to reach there, I saw another spider run forward and block my way, trapping me by the fountain. Instincts kicking in, I began to run along the edge of the water, with the two spiders right after me. My hunger level was dropping, and I didn't know if I would be able to keep it up for long.

After what seemed like my fifth lap, I glimpsed a glint of metal, and one of the spiders was hit by what looked like a sword. It curled up and died, and I turned around for a second, trying to see who was rescuing me.

Big mistake.

The next thing I knew, I had tripped on a rock and the spider was gaining on me, its hairy body jumping up and down. I screwed my eyes and waited for it to sink its fangs into my skin, but it never came.

Instead, I felt someone reach out and help me up, and I saw Onionboy, a bloody, iron sword in his hand. "Sorry about that," he said, "Those spiders keep climbing over the walls. I have to deal with them all the time. They're really annoying, sneaking up on you when you're busy dealing with creepers or whatever." Examining me, he laughed and commented, "You're covered from head to toe in bits of dirt. You should go take a bath, man." Nodding, I smiled. "Yeah, I will."

"Just doing my job," Onionboy said, waving off my thanks. "What were you doing out here at night, anyway? I don't see many people out here. It's usually just me and the other guards."

Checking my inventory, I was relieved that nothing had dropped out, though a few of the bread looked dirty. "I had to give SquirrelFaic99 her enchanting table." Handing a few of the small sweet cakes to Onionboy, I said, "Here, have these." Eating one of them, he managed to say through a full mouth, "Yeah, thanks man. You should go home."

Thirty minutes later, I had finished my bath (Onionboy was right, I was covered in filth from tripping and falling onto the muddy ground, and the water that I had used was a nasty shade of brown as I poured it down the drain), recorded SquirrelFaic99's request in my book, and lay down on my bed, trying to sleep. Looking through the window outside, I looked at the stars as the moon slowly made its way across the nighttime sky.

Little did I know that in less than 24 hours, everything would change.


	3. The Town Meeting

I was awoken the next morning by bright, Minecraftian sunlight, filtering through the glass panes by my bed. Blinking for a few moments, I got out of my bed and walked over to my chest, eating some of the bread that I had received from SquirrelFaic99 yesterday. It tasted crunchy and rich, and I washed it down with a bucket of milk. I cut a slice from the large, cherry-topped cake and devoured that too. Saving the rest for later, I put it back into my chest and walked downstairs.

The bright morning sunlight had flooded into the living room too, giving it a golden appearance. I consulted my book and checked that I had delivered and received payment for all of my crafting requests, putting it back onto the table. Everything seemed to be in order so far. Then, I walked over to the door and stepped outside to check if I had gotten any more orders.

Outside, I could see the blazing square Minecraft sun making its way up through the sky. Rays of sunlight peeked above the trees, and the air was pleasantly cool and smelled of flowers and the forest around Kingsville. I stopped to relax for a moment, and then looked at the space right by the door, where JinnThePoltergeist (the town messenger) usually taped any crafting requests to. However, there were none, and I decided to take the day off and spend it with Onionboy and Lyra. After all, nobody had sent me a request, which meant I was pretty much idle.

Just as I was about to go back inside, I heard feet pounding on cobblestone, which could only mean someone was running towards me. Looking at the street, I saw none other than Onionboy, who had one hand over his head to keep his white creeper jacket's hood on as the wind rushed past his face.

"Rowan!" he yelled, "The meeting started 5 minutes ago! You need to get there quickly!" Closing the door, I sprinted up to him. "I'll lead the way!" he said, and we both ran through the town, speeding past the empty houses. The whole town must've been at the meeting, since even the town plaza was deserted and the shops were closed.

Finally, Noble140's fashionable brick mansion appeared, with the town hall, which was made out of iron blocks and stone bricks, right across the street. I hurried past the garden in front of the building, nearly tripping and falling headfirst into the fountain. However, my only focus was to get into the town hall as quickly as I could. I knew Linkeuraism was going to humiliate me, but still, that wasn't my concern. I was more worried that I could have missed some important news or decrees.

"Well, well, well..." Linkeuraism said, his blue officer uniform's golden buttons and tassels gleaming in the sunlight that had entered the room through the iron door I had opened. He sneered as he said in a loud voice, "Now that RowanTheTurtle has finally decided that it is worth his precious time to come to this meeting, we may begin..." I wasn't very bothered by him, but Onionboy looked like he could have walked over to Linkeuraism and slapped him across the face. Still, seemed to realize that if he did that he would regret it later, so we ignored him proceeded to several empty chairs and sat down, listening intently.

"As you all know," Linkeuraism said, "Noble140 is currently busy, and cannot accommodate this meeting into his schedule. I am sure he will be here...later, but he has seen it fit to allow me to begin this town meeting, which, ironically, is not about the town.

"I am not sure that this is...general knowledge, but as some of you may know," he looked at Lyra and Jinxlolol, who nodded, "there used to be a town called Winterhold, which was thought to have been abandoned some twenty years ago. However..."

His voice trailed off as he looked at the door, which had opened. Noble140 walked in, as relaxed as ever, and said, "Thank you, Linkeuraism, that will be all. I shall continue this meeting." Stepping up to the podium, he smiled at everyone as Linkeuraism nodded curtly and strode towards a corner of the hall, where he stood guard.

"As Linkeuraism was saying, there used to be a town called Winterhold, which was thought to have been abandoned two decades ago. The town was rumored to hold a massive secret, which was heavily guarded and hidden somewhere around the village. But, for some reason that may have been related to the secret object, Winterhold was consistently attacked by massive waves of hostile mobs. The town was able to defend itself for a while, but it was eventually overrun.

"Shortly after, Winterhold's residents disappeared. None were ever found again. Nobody knows where they went, but nearby towns have assured me that they did not find any survivors. Winterhold's location was also lost, and the town was declared to be abandoned five years after the disappearance of the town residents.

"Now, there have been numerous expeditions from the nearby towns of Paclaven and Snowfield to find Winterhold, but none have been successful. Even stranger, about ten years ago, Paclaven sent a expedition of ten players to find Winterhold. None of them returned. Days later, several Paclaven rescuers claim they had seen a strange, eerie green aura in the air around where the 10-player expedition lost contact and seemingly vanished off the map. The rescuers were not able to get any closer to that area, and Paclaven gave up trying to find Winterhold.  
"Similar events happened to the explorers sent from Snowfield," Noble140 finished. Everyone was listening intently, except for Jinxlolol and Lyra, who looked as if they had heard this all before.

"The area around where Winterhold's approximate location is a snowy mountain range. The mountains contain large amounts of iron ore, and therefore radar does not function. However, recent earthquakes have shifted the veins of ore so that there is a narrow slice of stone in which radar may be able to travel past. EurekanMediterranean," Noble140 said, nodding his head at him, "informed me that one of his radar mechanisms pieced the 'ore shield' and was able to penetrate the mountain. He has discovered a massive tunnel system under the approximate location of Winterhold. He believes these tunnels were previously undiscovered, and could hold the secret to where the residents disappeared.

"Linkeuraism and I have decided to send a 3-player expedition to find out where these tunnels lead to. Unfortunately, EurekanMediterranean's radar machine was unable to aim its waves to find out if the tunnels lead deeper into the earth, since the ores prevented the machine from being able to select a different target to direct the radar at. We only know that three of these tunnels lead deep into the mountain, though EurekanMediterranean is sure that two of them are decoys and dead-end. However, the middle of the three tunnels seems promising, and it seems to go deep into the ground."

Noble140 paused and looked at us. "As I said before, We need a 3-player expedition to find out more about that tunnel. The journey to the mountain range is about 750 blocks. Be aware that this expedition will be extremely dangerous, and you have a high risk of dying or disappearing. I would not risk the lives of three Kingsville citizens, but I want to take advantage of the recent earthquake and land shifts to see if we can find out the mystery of where the people of Winterhold went to. Any volunteers?"

At first, nobody raised their hands. Noble140, however, did not seem disappointed. "I will provide all food that may be needed," he continued. "I will also provide a clock, a compass, and five stacks of torches, along with one diamond pickaxe, a diamond shovel, an iron sword, and a golden apple."

Even after Noble140's offer of food and equipment, nobody was enthusiastic. However, I had a funny feeling Onionboy would want to volunteer when...he stuck his hand up in the air.

"Dude!" I said frantically, "Are you crazy?! You could get killed!" But he seemed determined. Shaking my head, I raised my hand too, not wanting my friend to go alone. Nobody else dared to volunteer, but Noble140 smiled approvingly at us and nodded. "As we only have two citizens brave enough to submit themselves to this task, I encourage all of you to think about it and talk to Linkeuraism if you want to...volunteer..." And with that, he nodded, dismissing us.

As soon as we got out, Lyra ran over to us. She seemed on the verge of tears. "Rowan! Onionboy! Why did you volunteer? D-didn't you k-know you c-could die? I m-mean, this is s-so obviously dangerous-oh, I don't even know what y-you two were t-thinking! I-I don't know what t-to do now, I don't want y-you two to go and n-never come back!" Onionboy and I stood in an awkward silence as Lyra cried. Suddenly, I regretted volunteering, and so did Onionboy, from the look on his face. "Lyra..." he tried to comfort her, but she simply continued sobbing. Hugoalienasdf and Jinxlolol shot strange looks at Onionboy and me, as we tried to assure Lyra we would try to be careful and we wouldn't get ourselves killed. Linkeuraism was the last to leave, and he sneered slightly at me as he exited the garden and strolled down the cobblestone streets towards his villa.

Finally, after what seemed like an hour, Lyra calmed down. She still sniffled occasionally, though she seemed to accept the fact that Onionboy and I were going, and that no amount of persuading would stop us. "I'll see you around, then," she said, "Good luck, and don't die..."  
Several hours later, Onionboy and I were sitting at a table in Aniseedlist's cafe. I was still confused on why he had even raised his hand, though I knew we couldn't go back now.

"Dude," I asked him, and he turned his head around (where he had been looking at the fountain) and focused on me. "Why did you do it anyway?"

"I told you, it's because my job as a guard is so boring! I mean, I get an iron sword and walk along the wall. Spiders come up. I kill them. Skellies shoot me. I fight back. Every single night. And the messed up creepers are always trying to blow up in my face. It gets really stupid and whatever after a while, and besides, I want some adventure! What could be better than this?" Onionboy replied.

"But we could die! Look, dude, what if we just go into the mountains and never come back! No matter how boring life is, it's still better than death, right? Seriously, we could just walk into that frozen wasteland and disappear, like that expedition from Paclaven!"

Onionboy looked as if he didn't want to continue the discussion. Instead, he rounded on me, asking, "Well Rowan, what made you raise your hand?"

"I did it because...well, I didn't want you to do it alone. If you're going to be crazy, then I'm coming along too, because we're friends, and...friends don't let each other march off into the mountains and...and die, right? I mean, really, if you're doing this, then I'm doing this."

Smiling, Onionboy finished, "Yeah, we're in this together. You've got my back. I've got yours. No problem, man, we can do this!" I had the feeling he was trying to pacify me, but before I could reply, the door to Aniseedlist's cafe opened and Lyra walked in. She looked half determined and half jittery, as if she had just done something she had been afraid of doing.

"Hi Rowan and Onionboy," she said, sitting down next to me. Her eyes were still red from crying, though otherwise she seemed calm and composed. Aniseelist watched over the counter with a strange look on her face, since Lyra usually detested restaurants and stayed away from them. Today, however, she seemed determined to come in and tell us something.

"I...I've volunteered...to be the third person, I mean," she said quietly, and Onionboy's eyes widened. "Not...not you, Lyra...really...I-I didn't-I didn't think you would do that!" He seemed positively stunned at the fact that Lyra, who hated caves, ravines, and anything dangerous or creepy, would volunteer herself for such a risky and life-threatening mission.

"Yeah, well I've done it, so no turning back now," Lyra replied, seemingly on the verge of crying again. "If you two are going to be crazy idiots and run off into the mountains to look for some ghost town, then I'm coming too, because I want to make sure you two don't get too insane." She managed to smile from under her tears, and Onionboy, who had been staring at her with a bewildered look, nodded and said dazedly,

"Yeah...we're in this together...right..."


	4. The Forest

The air was frosty and there was a small layer of ice on my glass panes when I woke at dawn. I dressed and ate my breakfast silently, dreading the moment when I would have to leave Kingsville, probably forever. I checked my inventory and made sure that all of the equipment was in there: the diamond pickaxe, diamond shovel, two stacks of torches, compass, stack of wooden planks, and the lava bucket, which gave off heat, even though it was in my inventory. Glad to have something to warm me up, I felt better as I downed two loafs of bread, several melon slices, an apple, and another slice of the rich cherry cake, which, unfortunately, I couldn't take with me.

Plunging myself into an ice-cold bathtub of water, I decided to take a bath for what could be the last time in my life. Although, at first, the iciness bothered me, I didn't pay much attention to it, my mind fixed on the massive task ahead. What would I face in those barren, icy mountains? How long would I last? Shuddering, I pulled myself out of the water and watched as it slowly drained away with a gurgling sound. I put on new clothes, and decided to don a set of leather armor, which I hoped would protect me at least a little against the cold. The lava bucket continued to warm me, and I decided to take two out for Onionboy and Lyra. Looking in my chest, I realized that those two were my last. Still, why did it matter? I wasn't even sure if I would come out of those mountains alive.

Walking downstairs, I looked at my untidy living room. It had been my home for the six years since I had joined the server, and I gazed at the chairs, tables, and fireplace (which had gone out, but still reminded me of the gentle crackling noise of burning logs) with fondness. Goodbye, furniture, I whispered. Then, I almost laughed at the thought that I was talking to myself. Was I going insane already?

It was almost dawn. The sky began to turn a deep shade of indigo, and then purple, and then warm shades of red, orange, and yellow. I stood there, mesmerized as the square sun slowly rose up above the horizon. Then, forcing myself to look away, I ignored the bluish-green imprint of the bright sun in my eyes. I had other things to worry about.

I looked at the clock. It was time. Sighing, I swept my gaze over my house for the last time. The wooden chairs, tables, brick fireplace, and chilly, iced-over glass panes already seemed a mile, a world away, as if I had left them a long time ago. Then, not wanting to be late, I opened my wooden door, walked out of my home, and shut it behind me with a grim sense of finality.

Bright rays of sunlight were beginning to pierce the trees, bathing everything in a shade of warm gold. The grass underneath me was frozen and covered with a layer of frost. Even now, as I watched, it began to thaw, and little drops of dew hung at the tips of the lush, green blades. At least grass isn't going to be something I'll never see again, I thought. It'll probably be everywhere on the journey.

The town hall was still deserted as I made my way to the fountain. Several of the water blocks had frozen, and the sparkling ice glistened in the morning sun. I was surprised that I was early, but even as I scanned the empty storefronts, I saw Lyra and Onionboy, with grim and determined looks on their faces, emerging from one of the entrances. Noble140 and Linkeuraism (who was smirking and sneering, as usual) had come from another street, and one by one, the town members began filing out from various areas. I saw Jinxlolol and Aniseedlist waving at Onionboy, Lyra, and I, and even Hugoalienasdf seemed to be more cheerful than usual.

Now, it seemed as if the whole town had appeared. I saw JinnThePoltergeist, one of the guards, who was smiling under his large leather cap and blond hair, and UmgWhySoRage13579, who was one of the town builders, standing next to him, also grinning. HelenHeather1999, Kylespoungepie, and 98fishie89 (another builder), had appeared from the west part of Kingsville, and SquirrelFaic99 and qwertieyewiop778845, a strange, hyper fellow who was good friends with Onionboy (and who was also his fellow guard), who had walked from the southern area.

EurekanMediterranean nodded at me, his glasses glinting in the sunlight. Onionboy and Lyra walked up to where I was standing and joined me. Both were holding their arms to their sides and shivering, and as they looked at me, I tossed them the lava buckets. "Here, put that in your inventory," I said, and I saw their satisfied and relieved expressions as the hot liquid warmed them up.

"Welcome, citizens of Kingsville!" Noble140 said quite loudly, startling me, and from what I could see, a few of the other citizens. "Today, we have gathered to send off RowanTheTurtle, xXOnionboyXx246, and LyraKin6671, who have most generously volunteered to go on an expedition to find the location of Winterhold! May we all wish them luck, health, safety, and no creepers!" Some of the players laughed, and Noble140 smiled. "It is sad that they must go now, to take advantage of the daylight, since we have so much to say to them! But let us all hope that they will return not only safe and in one piece, but also with the knowledge of where the residents of Winterhold disappeared!"

Noble140 started clapping, and many of the citizens applauded. Linkeuraism had a bored and annoyed look on his face as he clapped dutifully, but the other players seemed genuinely happy for us. Lyra and Onionboy turned around and smiled at them, but my eyes remained on the northern gate of Kingsville. The faster we left, the higher chance we would make it to the mountains by night, which was our priority.  
Finally, the applause died down, and Noble140 walked up to us, wishing us well. He then stepped back, and we began our walk out of the gates. Lyra and Onionboy nodded at me, and we all began to sprint into the forest. Even though it was only 750 blocks, it would still be quite the journey, and we wouldn't want to be delayed by anything.

* * *

The woods continued for a while. Patches of bright sunlight shown through the shady cover of the trees, making the travel easy and almost pleasant if it hadn't been for the dread occupying my mind, making even a sunny stroll seem like dangerous task. Occasionally, Lyra, Onionboy, or I would stop to eat some bread or (in Onionboy's case) porkchops. As the sun rose, the lava buckets became unbearably hot, and we surrounded them with various items in our inventory, which helped to stifle the heat they gave off. It was late morning, and the sun was beginning to beat down on us.

Finally, around two hours after we had set off from Kingsville, we reached a river. I was familiar with this area, since Onionboy and I often came here to swim. Although the lava buckets and food were safe in our inventory, I still didn't want to get wet, and Onionboy and Lyra seemed to have the same opinion. I scanned the stream for a fallen log or maybe some stepping stones, but there weren't any.

The brook seemed shallow enough, though, and I could see the shiny tops of the pebbles, which were at the bottom of the crystal clear water. Looking in my inventory, I took out a stack of wood and made a makeshift bridge across the flowing water. Nodding at Onionboy and Lyra, we cautiously walked onto the planks and across the river. Now, we were on unfamiliar land. All of a sudden, the forest before us looked scary and eerie. Some sort of animal let out a howl in the distance, which sent chills down my spine. Lyra gasped, and Onionboy moved protectively in front of her and me, equipping his iron sword.

We continued, not wanting to spend any more time than we had to in the dark, creepy forest. Strange mushrooms and fungi grew along the ground as we wound our way through the trees, which were blocking most of the sunlight. Occasionally, Onionboy would swipe his axe to clear an overhanging vine or chop down old, rotten logs that would block our way. The air seemed unnaturally cool, as if something was removing the heat from the small, scattered rays of sunlight that fought their way through the thick canopies of leaves.

After what seemed like hours of traveling through the mysterious forest, my legs gave way. "I can't walk anymore," I said tiredly as I sunk to the ground, sitting on a boulder. Nodding, Onionboy and Lyra also sat down, and I dug a hole with the diamond spade and filled it with the lava from my bucket. "Campfire," I explained, before looking in my inventory and taking out some of my bread.

"I'll go find some mushrooms for stew," Lyra announced. Instantly, I knew this was a bad idea, and so did Onionboy. "Lyra, no!" He said frantically. "We have more than enough bread! And splitting up is a bad idea! What if—what if you got lost, or some _thing_ got you?" Lyra shook her head determinedly, her blond hair sparkling in a ray of sunlight. "Sorry Onionboy, but I'm tired of…bread…" she said. "Mushroom stew ought to make our meals more varied." Then, before Onionboy or I could protest, she disappeared into the underbrush, rustling several bushes near her.

"She's insane, that one," Onionboy commented. Nodding agreeably, I crafted some sticks and gave one to Onionboy. We took out some of his raw porkchops and impaled them with the twigs, holding them over the lava to roast them. "I hope nothing happens to her…" he said as another eerie howl reverberated through the woods. Onionboy picked up his sword instinctively, dropping the porkchop into the lava, where it disentigrated. "Aww…" he said disappointedly, taking out another porkchop. "That leaves 61…"

After about an hour, I was beginning to grow concerned. "Where _is_ she?" Onionboy asked, a twinge of worry in her voice. "Did something happen to her? She should have been back by now…I mean, how many mushrooms can you carry anyway?" Chewing my porkchop, which was delicious after it was roasted, I shook my head as I gazed into the trees. A strange sort of fog was beginning to rise from the ground, and the air was thick with some sort of odor. Just as I was about to take another bite, I heard an bloodcurling scream.

"Lyra!" Onionboy and I shouted at once as the ear-splitting noise bounced among the trees. Grabbing his sword, Onionboy sprang up from the ground, running towards what seemed to be the direction of the screaming. I hesitated for a second before grabbing my torches and sprinting after him, saying, "If you're going, I'm coming too! It's best to stay together!"

Very soon, we were lost in the misty depths of the strange forest, with no idea of where we were. Onionboy was breathing heavily as he continued to search for Lyra, while I ran behind him, following his trail. The torch cast a warm, flickering glow on the dark surroundings, and the sunlight was blocked out almost completely. I had to be careful as I sprinted, since there were knobby roots jutting out of the ground, and stale pools of stagnant water scattered across the forest floor.

"Oh…no…" Onionboy said as he abruptly stopped. I tried to halt, but before I could stop, I ran right into him, knocking him over. "Oof!" he said, his voice muffled as he fell to the ground, his sword clanging against a nearby rock. "Sorry," I told him, pulling him up. However, he acted as if that had never happened. He continued to stare at the place in front of him.

"We've…we've gone in a circle…" he said, horrified. Looking past him, I saw that the path looked familiar, and there was a warm glow that I had seen before…I walked towards the light source, and soon enough, I stumbled into the campsite, where the lava was still glowing where I left it.

"No…!" Onionboy said despairingly. "We wasted our time going in a stupid circle! Something could've happened to Lyra by now! What if—what if she died, or got lost, or _eaten_? It—It's all my fault, I…I let her go, I shouldn't have…no…"

Patting him on the shoulder, I said, "I know how you're feeling, but we haven't got much time. We have to find her, and the sooner the better! She might still be alive, but if we stay here and give up, then she's gone forever! Come on, let's go and search again! She could still be out there!"

And with that, Onionboy nodded, hefted his sword, and ran back into the dark woods, with me following him. Lyra could be in mortal peril. We would not let her die.

Our time was running out.


	5. The Ravine

It was around midnight when we found Lyra.

She was sprawled on the forest floor, unconscious, bloody, but still alive. I checked her inventory, and saw that whatever had attacked her had stolen all of her food. Her compass and clock were still there, and thankfully, the map and books as well.

No matter what Onionboy and I tried, we couldn't wake her. Finally, Onionboy took his bucket of lava, dug a hole in the ground, and dumped the lava into there. Then, he left for a few minutes and returned with a bucket of what seemed like stagnant, slimy water. He dumped it all on Lyra, who awoke in an instant, gasping and looking up at us.

"Sorry about that," Onionboy said apologetically as he looked down at her. He held out a hand and lifted her off the ground as she brushed the slimy forest soil off of her clothes.

"The bread is gone..." she said, and Onionboy nodded. "We know."

"I'm sorry, you two."

"It's okay," we replied. "What happened?"

Taking a deep breath, she said, "I went to look for mushrooms. It was getting dark, and I kept hearing howls. I didn't have a sword, and I had already gathered a handful, so I began to make my way back to our camp. But then the howling grew really loud, and a pack of wolves came out of nowhere and started attacking me. I screamed, but nobody was there. Then, one of them hit me with its paw, and I passed out.

Onionboy nodded. "We should make a camp. I'm not taking any risks. I'll chop down some trees and we can make a little wooden cabin. That should keep the wolves and mobs out. No, Rowan, we should preserve your wood," he said, when I offered my stack. "Who knows, we might need it later..."

Onionboy set off to the edge of the small clearing in the thick forest and began to hack away at a tree. Lyra sat on the mossy ground, shivering. I took the empty bucket and scooped up the lava again, giving it to her. Nodding, she put it into her inventory, and she seemed better after the warmth seeped into her.

"Rowan?" she asked me, and I turned back to look at her. "There's something I don't get..." I nodded, listening intently. "Why would the wolves take the bread? I mean, really, aren't wolves carnivores? I know you used to have a dog, so you would know, right? I wasn't worried about the bread when the wolves got me, since I knew they didn't eat it. I was just afraid they might maul me to death. But still, they took the bread...I don't understand why..."

Shaking my head, I knew what she was talking about. I used to have a dog named William a long, long time ago. One night three years ago, we were taking a stroll through the town when five spiders made their way up past the wall and into the area where we had been walking.

William died, saving me from those spiders, which ripped him into tiny, unrecognizable bits.

I ran home with half a heart left, and slaughtered the spiders with the iron sword I had in my chest.

Ever since then, I've tried my best to carry a sword around and get back to my house before nightfall, though there had been exceptions, like when I had delivered SquirrelFaic99's enchantment table two days ago.

Two days ago. It seemed like forever. Two days ago, I was worried if I had enough materials to craft things. I was worried about little petty things like if my furniture looked alright, or if I should organize the living room or get some sleep.

Now, I was worried about if I could survive. Onionboy, Lyra, and I were alone out in the wilderness.

The only thing worse than being alone out in the wilderness is being alone at night, out in the wilderness, in a forest where you can barely see six feet in front of you because of the dense fog.

The dense fog that might be hiding a zombie. Or a creeper.

Or a pack of wolves.

"Okay guys," Onionboy said as he walked tiredly back to us. I noticed the clearing had gotten slightly bigger, and several trees were missing their trunks. "I've gotten us some wood." He dumped out half a stack of logs, which I took and put into my inventory.

"Rowan, can you make us a small house? I don't care what it looks like, I just need it to be creeper proof...I don't think I can deal with any more creepers, I really don't...not after...running around the whole entire forest..."

He yawned and sat down on a nearby rock, staring aimlessly off into the dark and eerie forest, his sword in his hand. Lyra had taken out one of her books, which seemed to be about the history of Winterhold, and she was reading contently by a torch that Onionboy had put up.

I got to work. Building a crafting table, I put it down on the ground. I began to turn the logs into planks, which was tough and tiring work, but necessary. I ended up with two stacks of oak wood planks, and I began to build the framework of the house. Onionboy got up from the boulder and helped me. Together, we began to form the walls, floor, and roof of a tiny little cabin.

At last, it was done. We invited ourselves into the place, and I crafted a door and put it into place. The cabin had no windows and no furniture, but that wasn't really a problem. As long as it was mob-proof, it was fine, even if we had to sleep on the floor, even if it was cramped and too small.

Onionboy volunteered to take the first watch. Lyra and I agreed, and we settled ourselves on opposite ends of the cabin while Onionboy sat in a chair I had crafted him and looked through the door and out into the forest. A strange kind of mist had begun to rise from the mossy, slimy floor, and it carried with it a powerful odor that smelled like a cross between rotten flesh and dog waste. Still, Lyra and I fell asleep almost the instant our heads touched the floor, too tired to care.

At around 4:00 AM Onionboy woke me up. It was time for my shift. Thanking him, I settled myself into the chair. The smell was mostly gone, though there was a faint, lingering stench, which helped me stay awake. I began to breathe through my mouth, since I didn't want to smell the odor.

I fell asleep. I was simply too tired.

On and on the minutes ticked. Strange, moaning noises floated into the cabin from through the door, but I wasn't awake to hear it.

I wasn't awake to realize it was a zombie's moan.

I wasn't awake to hear the undead mob stumble towards the door.

But as it began to bang, all three of us opened our eyes. Lyra screamed. Onionboy seemed confused.

I immediately opened the door and instinctively drove the iron sword through the zombie's skull several times. It moaned strangely for a second before falling on its side, dead.

"Sorry, I fell asleep," I said to Onionboy and Lyra. Both of them nodded, though they didn't seem the slightest bit angry. I guessed we were all glad we had survived.

Looking out through the door, I saw dawn was approaching. The sky began to turn lighter and lighter.

"Time to go, I guess," I told them. They agreed, and we packed up our things and filed out of the door, which I shut behind us. Then, I crafted a sign, which I put on the side of the wall:

_RowanTheTurtle, xXOnionboyXx246,_

_and LyraKin6677 were here._

_The expedition is well._

_None of us are hurt._

Onionboy and Lyra read the sign and nodded. Then, we began to sprint into the dark forest, leaving the lonely, small cabin behind.

* * *

The woods ended abruptly at the edge of a ravine. Across to the other side, I could see the beginning of what looked like plains.

"Great, how are we supposed to get across that?" Onionboy asked. We looked at the cliff. I threw a pebble down into the ravine. It disappeared into the dark depths. I couldn't hear it land at the bottom. The ravine was that deep.

"Why don't we make a bridge across with the wood Rowan has?" Lyra suggested, but Onionboy shook his head. "I don't want to waste any more wood," he replied, and I nodded agreeably. "We might need it later," I added.

Then, looking at the slimy forest dirt, I had an idea. "Why don't I use some dirt blocks to make a bridge across?"

"Don't be ridiculous. Dirt blocks can't hold our weight."

"Well, it's better than using our limited wood."

"Onionboy," Lyra said, "There's a forest right behind us. Come on, if you want to get wood, then you can get a logs now to replace our the amount we'll use and we can get this over with."

"Fine."

We sat around, waiting, while Onionboy downed several trees. Then, he walked back to me, and again, I made a crafting table and converted the wood into planks.

"Okay, let's make the bridge."

I volunteered to go. Crouching, I began to lay the wooden planks by each other. I willed myself not to look down as I made my way across the deep ravine. Finally, I was almost to the other side. Turning around, I waved at Onionboy and Lyra, telling them it was safe to get across now.

Then I froze in horror. Behind them, I saw a pair of red eyes. And another. And another.

"Run!" I yelled, pointing frantically behind them. They turned their heads around, and I saw their eyes widen in terror. They began to sprint across the wooden bridge, not looking back.

The forest exploded with a horde of rabid wolves as they ran for their lives.

I quickly began laying the bridge, trying to get to the other side, which was about seven blocks away. I could hear excited howls from the wolves as they stormed onto the bridge. Some of the rabid animals fell off into the depths below, pushed by the crowd, but that didn't seem to bother them. They moved almost as if they were a single being, being controlled by a single thing.

The other side of the ravine was six blocks away.

Five blocks away.

Four blocks away.

But before I could get to the other side, Onionboy and Lyra reached me. I got up and ran with them.

Just as we prepared to sprint-jump across the gap, there was a loud crack, and the bridge began to break. It couldn't sustain the weight of the dozens of wolves running across it.

I landed on the other side, with Lyra besides me. But just as Onionboy leaped, the bridge gave way. All of the rabid dogs skidded this way and that as the bridge, along with them, toppled into the darkness.

Onionboy lost his footing and landed by the ravine edge, clinging to a rock.

"Rowan! Lyra! Help me!" He yelled frantically. We tried to pull him up, but it didn't work. Then, to our horror, the stones gave way and tumbled down the ravine. If I let go, Onionboy would fall to his death.

"Your-your hand's all sweaty, I can't get a grip!" I yelled back to him, but there really wasn't anything I could do. I could feel myself slipping out of his slippery hand. In desperation, I drew up all of my strength and yanked one last time. It did the trick. Onionboy flew out of the ravine and onto the soft grass. He was saved.

We all lay there for what seemed like hours, recuperating from our near deaths. Finally, I got up. "We need to keep going," I said. Onionboy nodded, but Lyra remained on the ground. "We should eat lunch first," she replied. "It's noontime, anyway."

"Alright, but let's make it quick," I told the two of them. They nodded. I took out my lava bucket and dug a hole in the ground with my diamond spade. Then, I dumped the magma into the hole, and we crafted some sticks and began to eat the cooked porkchops and the bread Onionboy had in his inventory.

Lyra finished first and read her book, waiting for us to finish. I ate the last of my food, and so did Onionboy. We threw the charred sticks into the ravine, watching it fall into oblivion. I scooped up the lava with the empty bucket and put it back in my inventory.

Now, I turned my head around. I saw what seemed to be endless miles of plains. There were clouds in the distance, which looked grey and fat. I knew there would be rain soon.

Nodding to each other, the three of us began to sprint past our campsite, past the ravine where we almost died, and past the forest of the rabid wolves.

We had to hurry if we were to get to the other side of the plains before nightfall.


	6. Endless Plains

_**AUTHOR'S NOTE: I apologize for the short chapter. That's what happens when I try to write when I don't feel like it. But I'm glad I have some good readers, and I hope the next chapter will be long enough to please you guys.**_

* * *

The plains seemed to stretch on forever. No matter how fast Onionboy, Lyra,and I sprinted, we had no hope of making it to the edge by nightfall. As the sun slowly sank below the horizon, I realized it was time to stop and make a camp.

"Guys? We should stop now for the night and rest. The night is coming, and the monsters are going to rip us apart if we don't make a shelter," I said as Onionboy and Lyra wordlessly ran with me across the relatively flat terrain. There was an occasional lake or cave entrance, but we didn't stop to investigate, since we needed all the time we could get.

"Just a sec, Rowan, I see something in the distance," Onionboy replied, panting from the heat. It was actually getting quite hot, and for some reason, the temperature didn't fall, even as the moon began to rise behind us. It wasn't nature for a plain to have so much heat. What was going on?

Lyra ran beside us, flipping through her book. I had no idea how she could read and sprint at the same time, but then again, she could do amazing things. Now she seemed concerned as she stopped at a particular page.

"I know why the plains are so unnaturally hot," she announced. "This area is supposedly known as the 'Fire Plains', so named because the caves underneath this area are filled with lava. It's a natural phenomena, but there have been fires burning underground for years here. For some reason the fires don't ever reach the surface, but the heat does, and it radiates into the air."

"Well that's interesting and all, but where will we stop for the night?" I asked, starting to get impatient and worried. Even though my hunger bar was almost full, my muscles felt tired after a whole day of running, and my brain was still slightly in shock after the rabid dogs.

"Rowan, I told you, I saw something out there," Onionboy said, and I resisted the urge to shoot a comment back. But as I looked up, I realized he was right. There was something out there. A single light source against the whole darkening plain. It seemed to hover above the ground…and I somehow knew that the light source wasn't a torch…

"What is that?" I asked Onionboy. I was still paranoid after the eerie forest. If that light was something evil and malicious, I didn't want to get close to it.

Just as we reached the strange, floating light, the first mobs began spawning. I heard clinking and moaning sounds off in the distance. I could hear something coming towards us. Approaching the light source, I barely had time to move out of the way before a spider, which had been sneaking up behind me, overshot me and fell right into a small pit where the light seemed to be coming from. I heard its shrieks of agony as it died.

"It's a lava pit…" Lyra said, watching the spider's remains dissolve into the molten liquid. "That's why it didn't flicker like a torch. A lava pit's light doesn't waver, ever." But as Onionboy and she stood there, I looked up and realized there was a path nearby.

"Guys…come look at this," I told them, and they turned to look at what I had pointed out. A short distance away was a gravel path that cut through the plains, disappearing into the distance. It curved around the lava pit and resumed its straight line. I looked the other way. Again, the path disappeared into the distance. It was so large that I couldn't see the end.

But there was also something else. A small lamppost, with two torches that seemed to havegone out a long time ago. It had a worn-out wooden sign attached near the top. I read it:

_Paclaven_

_- 594 blocks_

_Winterhold_

_1,782 blocks -_

I looked at Onionboy and Lyra. I could see the excitement on their faces too. "It leads to Winterhold!" Onionboy exclaimed brightly. But I saw something behind him that rooted me to the ground in horror.

"Creeper behind you, Onionboy!" I yelled as the world exploded. Blocks flew everywhere as Lyra and I dived to the ground. Onionboy was hit the hardest. He was blown off his feet, flying towards the lava pit. "No!" I yelled, running towards him. I had forgotten about all of my own injuries in my rush to save my friend.

I grabbed him by his ankle, right before he fell into the bubbling lava. I could hear his cries, while Lyra screamed. I yanked him over and over, slowly dragging him back. As I pulled him onto the ground, something slipped out of his inventory. Onionboy tried to grab it, but it fell into the magma and dissolved.

"The axe!" Onionboy exclaimed, looking forlorn as the lava eagerly ate up the iron tool. However, Lyra and I weren't the least bit concerned. We were glad that Onionboy was alive. All three of us layed there on the ground, recovering. Thankfully, most of the mobs had left the area. I had the idea that they didn't really like the bright light of the lava.

"Well…we should make camp here for the night…" Lyra said, when we had all rested. Onionboy was still breathing fast. I couldn't blame him. He had nearly fallen to his death, and it was the second time today.

Spreading out our bedsheets, I collapsed onto mine's and looked up at the starry sky. The square moon, a waning crescent, made its way across the nighttime sky slowly. The world looked so peaceful, and I wondered how the moon would think of us: three lone explorers, stuck in the wilderness with a bunch of monsters that would love nothing other than to kill us and eat our brains. Chuckling slightly at the absurdly funny thought, I rolled over to my side. Onionboy was already snoring, but Lyra wasstaring off into space, as if she was thinking.

"Onionboy, you know why those wolves attacked me in the forest? I think I figured it out. According to my book, years ago, Winterhold sent out explorers to investigate strange activites coming from the forest. They didn't make it 300 blocks in before being attacked by those rabid dogs. Eventually, they were able to slay a large enough amount of the animals, and they left them alone. They discovered a jungle temple deep inside the forest, which they named the Forest of the Wicked Dogs. But a lack of edible food forced them to leave before they could find out anything else.

However,they do think that the dogs' behavior is linked to that jungle temple. But they never got another chance to go there. Only a few months later, Winterhold fell to a massive monster siege and all of the players disappeared."

"That's interesting," I replied. "I wonder what kind of malevolent, evil power that temple has. It must be very powerful to influence so many dogs." Shuddering, I added weakly, "I'm glad that we got out of there before we could find out what the temple did to the other animals. I wouldn't want to meet a rabid cow. It might kill me for my meat!"

Lyra and I laughed at my joke. Onionboy turned over in his sleep and muttered, "What's going on…uhhhmmm…" I wiped the sweat from my forehead and settled back down. Lyra did the same. For a moment our gazes connected, and then they drifted away. Slowly, I slipped into unconsciousness, tired after a long day.


	7. Steam River

**_AUTHOR'S NOTE: It's been a few months since the last update. I apologize for the hiatus. I have been very busy and the holidays really ate away at my time. But I am back now, at least on this fanfiction, and will try to constantly update. Also I have updated and made some minor changes to the first 5 chapters, mainly adjusting Winterhold's distance from Kingsville to be a bit more realistic. Anyways I hope you enjoy this chapter, which is several months in the making, and in (hopefully) a short time, the next chapter will be posted._**

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Dawn came very quickly. I was awoken by Lyra, who was cooking porkchops over the fire. The sun was like a gigantic, square ball of fire, slowly rising above the flat plains. Onionboy was nowhere to be found, though I soon saw him by the lava pool, throwing in fistfuls of grass and watching them disintegrate into smoke as they hit the magma.

"Breakfast," Lyra announced as Onionboy sighed and tossed a dandelion into the lava. It shriveled up and turned into wisps of steam. "I made you guys some pork sandwiches." As she said the word 'pork', Onionboy straightened up, ran over, and quickly ate his sandwich. Lyra laughed. "You eat like a pig, Onionboy," she said, and Onionboy, through a full mouth, replied, "Well, I am eating pig." I chuckled as I picked up my porkchop sandwich and took a bite out of it. The sun warmed my back and the bright rays stretched among the flat plains, turning the grass golden in the morning sunlight. The wind caressed my face, but I couldn't feel it under my leather armor.

A few minutes and five pork sandwiches later, we had packed up. "Which way shall we go?" Lyra asked us. I considered the options. We could follow the road to Winterhold, though it didn't seem to go towards the direction according to the map. Instead, we could follow the map that Noble140 had given us. I wasn't sure, but Onionboy was all for the road.

"The road, the road, the road..." he chanted, staring at me for confirmation. I shook my head. "The road doesn't match up with the map, I said, glancing at Lyra's map. "Look, here it is," I told him, pointing at a narrow, thin line that crossed the plains. "It's perpendicular. Not parallel. We're supposed to go east; the road goes south."

"But...the road, it says it leads to Winterhold!" Onionboy protested. I took a closer look at the map. The road went all the way until the edge, down south. "Onionboy, I'm not sure, but I'm leaning towards following the map." I pointed at where the plains ended. There appeared to be a narrow strait of water, and then icy mountains. "If we get to the mountains, we can have cover at night, not mobs attacking us. But if we follow the road, for all we know it stretches onward in the plain. We won't be so lucky the next night, there won't be a lava pool to protect us every time we camp. We need cover and shelter. The mountains are a better choice than the plains if we want to live and not be attacked by undead hordes."

Onionboy pondered a while. "I still think we should take the road," he said, "I'm tired of going through weirdo forests and fire plains with lava pits." He really did look kind of dejected and tired, I noticed. It was bad to be discouraged only a few days into the expedition. "I know how you feel," I said reassuringly, but deep down I was worried. How would I convince him? My eyes wandered over the landscape as I thought of a solution. Finally, they settled on the road sign. And that was when I realized it.

"We need to stick to the plains," I said urgently. "The sign is a lie." Onionboy looked surprised. "Well, how do you know?" He challenged? I sighed. He didn't see it. From the first time I looked at that sign, I knew something was wrong besides the fact that it went south instead of east. Some part of my mind insisted there was some discrepancy, some anomaly that I couldn't figure out. But now I knew. I should have known all along. It was simple, really. "Do you remember what Noble140 said? About Winterhold being "about 750" blocks from Kingsville? I figured it out. That sign says Winterhold is 1,982 blocks away, not 750. Why would it almost triple the distance? That sign is lying, I'm sure of it."

Onionboy was momentarily taken aback, and I could see he was thinking. Then, his eyes lit up and he smugly replied, "What if the road isn't straight, like the map? What if it winds around the plains?" That was true. I hadn't thought of that. But, not wanting to admit that, I thought for a bit. The obvious solution came up. I rolled my eyes and replied, "Why would it? We're on a flat plain. And besides, if it wounds around, like you said, why should we take it? It would be more efficient to just go in a straight line."

That seemed to do it. Onionboy let out a huge sigh, and then said, "Fine. I suppose you make sense." Then, he cheered up again. "But promise that next time, I get to decide. Okay?"

I nodded and we continued. For most of the morning, we sprinted and sprinted. I found a herd of cows, and we milked them, while Onionboy decided to cold-heartedly slay one of them for meat. He was almost trampled by the herd after his murderous act. Later, as we continued to run, we drank the milk we had gathered and ate some more bread. It was comfortable with the wind blowing in our faces. As usual, it was hot and stifling, so I took off my leather armor and put it in my inventory. It was slightly dented from the various mob attacks I had suffered, but otherwise it was in good enough condition, with about three quarters health left. I still probably shouldn't use it, though. What if it broke right before I actually needed it?

It was around noontime when I noticed the river. Why hadn't I seen it on the map before? There was a faint line running down the plains, but I had assumed it was just a crease in the paper. But now, as we approached it, I was assured that yes, it was a river. And it wasn't any ordinary river, too. Well, nothing was ordinary anymore. But I saw the steam rising off of it, and I knew the water was boiling hot. Big surprise. The whole plain radiated heat. But how in the world we were supposed to get past that?

Onionboy was at least a bit more optimistic. And by that I meant he started to dance around, yelling, "Yay! Hot bath time!" Lyra rolled her eyes. "I could here her mutter under her breath, 'Kingsville guards. I always knew something was off about them'." Onionboy suddenly stopped, and his face took on a stern expression. "I heard that," he said, bristling. Lyra burst out laughing, and I chuckled. But then my smile died away as I focused on the stream. There was no wading through that. It would be like swimming in scalding hot lava. A bridge came to mind at first, but then I remembered the scene at the ravine. Chills went down my spine as I recalled how close I was to falling down to the murky depths, and my death as well.

I related my plans on how to get across to Onionboy and Lyra. I proposed to make a bridge out of what materials we had, which meant wood. But Lyra shot that down, saying, "What if the water burns the bridge and starts a fire?" Onionboy found it hilarious that water could start a fire. Out of all things, why the one thing that kills fires? It was ironic, I agreed, but very possible.

Eventually, we settled on making a dirt bridge, like last time. Lyra seemed mortified at that suggestion, and I knew she was remembering how Onionboy almost died at the ravine. But then I told her that we wouldn't keep the arch underneath empty, and that we'd fill it with dirt to stabilize the bridge. Onionboy objected, saying, "Wouldn't that block the river?" He seemed absolutely terrified at the possibility of the Fire Plains flooding in a superhot sea of boiling "hot bath time" water, but eventually he consented, though he told me ominously, "Don't tell me I didn't warn you. Oh yeah, and I call making a boat. Just in case. You know."

Although I protested, saying it would waste time, Onionboy insisted, and eventually, I put down a crafting table and spent ten minutes making a crude boat out of a log. Then, I packed up the table and dug out some warm dirt from the ground. We spent an hour making the bridge, stacking dirt block upon dirt block. The river surged by faster and faster as we slowly cut off its flowing pass. It was then that a horrid thought occured to me: what if the river did, indeed, overflow? We would be trapped on an island of soft dirt as the river seeped out all around us, cutting off our escape. But it was too late now to think. Onionboy nervously put down the last dirt block, completely cutting off the river. It was time.

We all sprinted across just as the boiling water burst past its banks and started to spread out. Angry hisses rose from the boiling surface as cascades of burning steam shot up through the air. We ran until we were a safe distance away, but apparently Onionboy didn't notice. "Mayday! Mayday! To the boat! Evacuate!" He yelled, taking the boat from his inventory and putting it down on the grass. He then got into it and started to move at a snail's pace along the ground, prompting Lyra and I to laugh at the ridiculous sight. After five minute's work of strenuous boating, Onionboy turned around and realized the river had long since burst through the makeshift dirt dam and the overflow had seeped back into the hot stream. Getting out of the boat, which had gouged a shallow trail across the dirt, he concluded, "Well, at least we're safe."

The rest of the afternoon was fairly uneventful. Not once did we come upon another lying road sign, herd of stampeding cows, or boiling hot river. Lyra managed a fantastic feat of reading while running, and I couldn't tell how she jumped over rocks and pebbles without ever tripping, even though she wasn't looking at the ground. She seemed to know just when something was coming up, and avoided it. All the while, her eyes remained glued to the History of Winterhold book. She seemed to become more and more concerned as she read it. I wondered if she had seen something that she was holding back from Onionboy and I.

There was something else I also noticed. The ground seemed to be rising at an almost unnoticeable amount. It was one block every fifteen or so blocks, concealed by the normal rises and dips. But I knew we had gone from around twenty blocks higher than sea level (where the plains had started) to about thirty. That wasn't a big difference, but given all the evens that happened, along with my slight paranoia, the small height increase could mean a lot of things, many of them bad. But before my brain could start forming horrible theories of underground strongholds and lavafall caverns and spider nests, I saw something in the distance: a huge plateau, rising at least thirty blocks. The sides were sheer stone, steep and vertical. Lyra and Onionboy noticed it, too, but we only looked at each other and nodded, determined to get there by nightfall. But as we sprinted, Lyra put away her book and took out the map, showing it to us.

We were at the edge of the Fire Plains.


End file.
